


Little Ash

by UnadulteratedFanfiction



Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén
Genre: Bets & Wagers, Cage Fights, M/M, blind trust
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 05:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30033567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnadulteratedFanfiction/pseuds/UnadulteratedFanfiction
Summary: Facing the grim prospect of being recycled, Ash has no choice but to blindly follow his new handler’s orders, and face the greatest challenge yet.The origin story of Ash’s name, aquired before he escaped the farm itself.No specific warnings in this one, spoilers for Rebirth and Retribution.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Kudos: 3





	Little Ash

“Now focus only on me. Loose everything else, let go of all distractions. Just listen to my voice, and let nothing else through your shields” 

Little by little, the loud voices of the audience begin to die down, the fires of everyone sitting there being snuffed out from your perception as if they had never existed. 

“Better now?” she asks.

Embarrassed, you give her a single nod. 

“The noise is gone.”

“Good. You’ve got this. We’ve trained hard, we’ve gone beyond what anyone expected, and your ratings are almost restored.”

“You really think I can win this?” you let out peeking at your opponent on the other corner. 

C9. Much taller than you, and a combat specialist trained by Morris. 

Many expect him to mop the floor with you.

“I don’t waste my time with losers, and you’re not a loser CB” she says, giving you an encouraging shoulder rub. “That’s my only rule, and you’re not going to be my first Gene to break it” 

You shake your head, before getting up. No sense postponing this.

“Alright… let’s see what happens,” you say, adrenaline beginning to kill the numbness. 

“Remember how we trained…”

You walk over to the center of the training arena, and the referee tells you to wait, as C9 gets to the other side of the circle. 

C9 is confident but still gives you a small nod. One of the few genes showing some respect for someone like you, with such lousy scores.

“Alright, bets are in, we all want to see a good fight. Both of you dogs ready?”

“I’m always ready” C9 replies, standing tall. His mind is telling you all the ways he’s planning to crush you right now. 

“I’m ready” you reply much less fiery. This will be a tough fight.

Some in the audience begin cheering for C9 because he’s a beast, but a growing number are shouting something different. 

“Kick his ass little Ash!” Celina from medical cheers. 

Little Ash. 

The name came shortly after Ashley stole you from Temple and became your handler. Changing teams saved you from the beatings, and of course, you became her little sidekick, following her everywhere. She’s really tall, and your size didn’t help much, nor did the fact that you look so much alike. 

You smile. 

Ash is not your name, but humans calling you by a human name, breaking their own rules? You like how it makes other genes envy you.

The feeling after a win, when they’re cheering you… it’s exhilarating. 

Little else to envy tough. Your ratings went into a deep dive during your time with Temple, and if Ashley hadn’t appeared with a mandate from above to take whatever regene she wanted, you’d be recycled by now. She has managed to keep you afloat so far, and in return, you’ve delivered your best work yet because your life is literally on the line. You never understood why she chose you, but you’re not going to make her regret it. You bounced upwards on your latest psy tests, and started reverting the curve.

The fighting ring is the easiest way to get points, Ashley explained it very clearly. There's no middle ground since there are no other paths to gain enough points before the annual review so it’s fight or die. On top of it all, they’re betting their actual money on having their genes fight each other, so no one can alter the score you gain here, since bets are sacred. 

They didn’t cheer you at first, but this is your fifth fight without a loss, and your rating has gone almost high enough now. Almost. 

And you’ve gained some fans. 

“Very well dogs” The referee announces “Assume your positions, and we begin in one… two… th-”

“Wait!” Someone from the audience interrupts. 

You can’t help turning, even if you know you shouldn’t have.

Agent Temple. 

Of course, he’d be here.

Why can’t he let go? 

He asked you to create those illusions and then hated you for it… 

Tried to get you recycled for good. For doing what he ordered. 

You’ll never understand humans. 

“Yes, Mike?” Vera the referee asks, turning to him. “You’re too late for bets, the fight is about to start”

“I’m not here to bet, I just want to propose a better opponent”

“It’s too late for that,” Ashley interrupts, getting closer. “We’ve already challenged Morris’ team, and he accepted”

“Sure he did” He grins looking at Morris, causing the man to frown almost instantly. “But I’m sure he’d let me take his place, If I asked nicely enough no?”

“I already agreed with them, Mike. The fight is with C9. It could use some rating improvement”

“I know… but if C9 loses, then CB’s rating gets high enough to saved him from recycling, no?”

“That is how it works, yes” Morris replies.

“Well I think we could use some more excitement for a fight like this.” he smiles at the audience. Ashley frowns. He’s planning something to rain on her parade. 

“I’ve got another gene whose ratings are low who could also be saved with this fight, especially after Ashley’s little bitch became some sort of big champion.”

“That is not what we agreed on” Ashley replies, her mind calculating coldly. 

“But isn’t this what we’re supposed to do? Cut off the dead weight? Save those who are better fit to fight for the directive?” he asks, still talking to the audience “Besides, I’m sure the bets would be higher if this was a sudden death fight, no? Come on guys, I also want a chance to save my gene. The loser gets recycled, what do you say?”

You almost want to jump at him as the gene in question comes forward. It’s LG, one of the strongest regenes in his team, one of Mike’s proudest accomplishments in the past years. 

Now, after a few bad missions, he took tons of damage and the medical teams haven’t been able to help him properly. He still managed to turn to a support position, and despite it all he was doing great when you left… but now his scores have tanked, and he can’t even look you in the eyes from the other side.

You know how that feels. The last evaluation was a few days ago… Temple must have tanked his scores on purpose, for this precise moment. The audience is beginning to turn to Temple’s side.

He’s going to get his way… no matter how much Ashley opposes it, if the other handlers agree with Temple, the referee will want you to fight LG. If Ashley refuses, your score won’t be enough either way…

You can already feel your life fading away, when Ashley pulls you back, turning you around to face her.

“Listen to me CB, do you want to live?”

It’s a simple question, but she’s not satisfied with your muttered ‘yes’.

“I can’t hear you, do you want to live?”

“Yes,” you let out, stronger, looking at her now. “But this… I can’t… I can’t hurt LG!”

“Yes, you can. You’ll do what you need to do to live because you’re not a loser CB. And Temple can’t get away with this forever”

“But if I win, LG will die!”

“And if you lose, you will die instead. And I want you to live CB. I’m ordering you to live”

It may be stupid, but did she just say she wants you to live? 

“I’ll.. I’ll do it,” you say, trying to give yourself some courage. 

You look at LG again, and he looks as conflicted as you, trying to get his head around this. 

He was your only friend back when you were one of Temple’s dolls. 

He used to be assigned to protect you while you gathered data… you were inseparable…

Saved your life countless times.

You share your head at the memories. 

Fuck it. 

Ashley wants you to live. A human wants you to live. 

LG is just a gene… what is that compared to her? She wants you to live, so you better damn make sure you do. 

“I’ll do it!” you repeat, more assertively. 

“Great” she smiles, walking up towards Temple and Morris. “Temple, we accept your challenge. CB will fight LG”

Temple’s pleased expression shifts almost immediately, as the tables are turned. 

His thoughts are guarded, but you catch a glimpse into his plan. He had counted on you not being able to fight LG. He knew how strong your friendship was… he knew you always felt indebted to him.

He had thought your friendship would prevent you from winning. He wanted you to lose this fight, to get recycled

Temple wants you to die.

So Fuck it. 

Fuck Temple, fuck his gene, fuck all the humiliations he inflicted on you. 

All that matters is making Ashley proud, and making him lose big once and for all. You’d do anything for her, and now you’ve found that includes killing former friends. Of cours eyou would, any other regene would do if ordered to. 

You always knew you weren’t supposed to have friends in the first place and befriending LG was wrong all along. 

All you need is the praise of your handler, and that’s what’ll keep you alive. 

“Are you ready?” Ashley asks 

“Yes! And I’m going to FUCK... HIM... UP!”

The other handlers in the audience begin cheering for “Little Ash” and LG just looks mortified by your words, but that’s not your fault. He should also do his best to kill you. 

It’s not your fault.

Temple looks daggers at you as you charge.

He knows he’s underestimated you again, he knows you’re going to win, and that can’t do anything to stop it. 

LG readies onto a fighting stance, preparing for the clash.

Not.

Your.

Fault.


End file.
